What are you eating right now?

[Angel]

What is good if you have asthma is to change climate a lot. When I first got it when I was about 6 or 7 the doctor said that asthma doesn't exist among people who live 2000 meters (or something like that, I don't remember the exact number) above the ocean level. This was in the 80's in eastern Europe, so I can't swear that that fact is correct.

My parents started traveling with me a lot after I was diagnosed, just to change climate. We'd go up in the mountains and then to the coast. And that did actually help.

If we'd only had known that it was gluten all along...

I think the doctor was wrong about altitude...I grew up in the mountains and my brother had asthma, so did a couple friends of mine. But, we were at 1500 m, so I could be wrong. I think it depends on a lot of factors, and what triggers your asthma.

[ELVIS]

I am NOT gluten intolerant. You have NO idea what you are talking about Elvis, and that I am here trying to have some sort if rational discussion with you is actually saying more about me then it says about you.

Shut the fuck up...

Have you ever tried eliminating gluten ??

Didn't think so...

[ELVIS]

Asthma is linked to gluten, study finds

Link!

People with celiac disease are more likely to develop asthma, according to a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. And, those diagnosed with asthma are more likely to develop celiac disease. How are asthma and gluten linked? The researchers are not quite sure what makes people with celiac disease have a 1.6 fold increased risk of asthma (60% more likely to have asthma) than those without. However, one of the researching doctors in a Reuter’s Health article on the study, speculated that it is related to vitamin D deficiency.

Since people with celiac disease have damaged intestines, they are unable to properly absorb nutrients. According to the Vitamin D Council, Vitamin D helps “the immune and nervous systems defend the body, with defects in this intricate system leading to autoimmune disorders.” Several studies have shown that lower levels of vitamin D related to higher incidence of asthma in children. Just supplementing with vitamin D isn’t enough if the body can’t absorb it, as is the case with celiac disease. Removal of gluten is the only way to heal the intestines, so that they can begin to absorb vitamins again.

But forget those studies… just look at me. I puffed on asthma inhalers every day for about 25 years and took prednisone when the inhalers weren’t enough. Three months after I started a gluten-free diet after I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 32, I stopped my medication cold turkey. I never used it again. It has been over 8 years.

I hadn’t considered vitamin D deficiency as a cause of my asthma before reading this new study. I recently had my vitamin D tested and it is low even now, so I can’t imagine what the level was before my diagnosis — I was never tested for vitamin deficiencies in the past.

If you have asthma, I urge you to get tested for vitamin deficiencies and for celiac disease. Think of your asthma as a symptom for which there is a cause. To be able to breathe again — now that is a gift.

[ELVIS]

I think the doctor was wrong about altitude...

Of course he was, he was guessing...

You're run-of-the-mill western Doctors know jack shit about nutrition...

[ELVIS]

Gluten Sensitivity Associated with Asthma, Depression, & More

Link!

When my son was 6 months old, he suddenly came down with violent eczema: bright red patches on his cheeks, elbows and legs that drove him crazy with itchiness. My smiling cheerful “sunshine boy” was suddenly transformed into a miserable, crying, bloody mess. I brought him to the pediatrician, who prescribed a steroid cortisone cream, and mentioned casually, as we were leaving, that my son would have asthma by the time he was four. That stopped me in my tracks. “Oh no he won’t!” I declared.

While keeping the eczema under control with homeopathy, I began my search to understand what was going on with his body. Unfortunately, it took me years. Fortunately, we were able to keep him relatively healthy. Though my poor son sported a chronically runny nose, he never became asthmatic. I took him to many doctors, holistic and otherwise, as well as homeopaths, naturopaths and other practitioners during the years that followed. None had answers, though they all made suggestions. They touted blood tests that said he was reacting to things he’d never eaten, and supplements that rarely helped at all. I continued to support him with homeopathy, detox, and supplements that kept it from getting serious, but he was never completely, vibrantly well, the way a child should be. As always in my work – how much more so for my son – I was driven to find the underlying cause, and no one had successfully helped me identify it yet.

It was only when I did my training with endocrinologist Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., that the picture finally came in to focus: my son is gluten-sensitive. His chronic runny nose disappeared almost instantly. None of the tests, and none of the practitioners, had suggested that.

Now, looking back, it all seems perfectly clear. His symptoms started when we introduced food. He was gnawing on pizza crusts, bagels, teething cookies: all made with wheat. He had intense “growing pains” which are virtually always an indication of gluten sensitivity. He was short, which he overcame on the basketball court with intensity, honed skills and determination, but short stature is often an indication. (Since giving up gluten he is no longer short.) He would often get so tired after dinner that he would fall asleep at the table. All of these, I know now, are signs of gluten sensitivity, but I couldn’t recognize them because I didn’t know. How I wish I could have saved him all those years of frustration.

I also owe Diana Schwarzbein my own health. I had no symptoms, but she was certain I was gluten sensitive. She told me she had had the same resistance to the idea herself, but felt so much better when she went gluten-free. Finally, because I trusted her, I decided to try it. After all, I was cooking gluten free for my son already, so it was easy to do.

I was astonished. Within a few weeks, I felt like a veil had lifted. I realized that I had been suffering from a mild depression my whole life, and that it was caused by eating gluten. How can you know, when you are limited by your own experience? Also, like my son, I discovered I was not hypoglycemic: my blood sugar swings were the effect of gluten in my system. And over time, many things improved: not only my mood, but my cognitive function, my digestion, my skin tone, and my body composition.

Of course there are other issues that make people sick, or less than optimally well. Not only other food sensitivities, but bacterial, viral and fungal infections, as well as hormonal and metabolic imbalances. But the truth is that gluten sensitivity can exacerbate or even trigger any of these.

Recent research on gluten sensitivity has linked it with IBS, acid reflux, bone fractures (gluten reduces mineral absorption), with bone fractures, and one that links erratic blood sugar levels after meals (something I associate with gluten sensitivity) to sudden heart failure, even in young people. My theories, from my clinical practice, about relationships between gluten sensitivity and H. Pylori, early onset Alzheimer’s, diabetes, anxiety and depression, Interstitial Cystitis, bone loss, Lupus, and more, have all found validation in research over the past few years, along with the issues mentioned above. Much of it has to do with inflammation and insulin resistance, both of which can be caused or exacerbated by gluten consumption.

[ELVIS]

[Angel]

I don't know how a guy who claimed to be a nurse for over 20 years can get basic medical knowledge so horribly wrong.

Oh boy, the stories I could tell...we do tech support for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Talk about stupid people!! It's mind boggling. If I ever go to the States, I'm bringin a nurse with me....

[ELVIS]

The way to take care of yourself is to run far away from the medical system and corporate foods completely...

Eat organic vegetables, farm fresh eggs and meats, take supplements and get some sun and exercise...

Failure to do so will result in a miserable cancer and infection ridden death way before 70 years of age...

But hey, you lie in the bed you make...

[ELVIS]

Oh boy, the stories I could tell...

We know...

We've heard 'em...

You make life up as you go along...

[Zing!]

This thread used to be fun.

[vandeleur]

This thread used to be fun.

I always thought it was the " look what that lucky bastard Vain is eating" thread

[ashstralia]

i'll say it again, i'm so fucking lucky to live in organic hippy foodbowl heaven.

i can get a huge box of veges from my local greengrocer for 20 bucks... that feeds me for a week easy.

i make soups, stews, steamed veg in winter; beautiful salads in summer. the fast food here is WAY more expensive.

for example; at the local KFC a nugget meal (6 nuggets, small fries, and a can of whatever) is $9!!! nine fucking dollars!!??!

[ELVIS]

at the local KFC a nugget meal (6 nuggets, small fries, and a can of whatever) is $9!!! nine fucking dollars!!??!

I'm proud to say I did not know that, but that's incredible...

I thought the huge box of organic spring mix I bought last night for six bucks was expensive and that will last my wife and I a week...

[ELVIS]

And it's food...

Nuggets and fries are in no way food...

[ELVIS]

i'll say it again, i'm so fucking lucky to live in organic hippy foodbowl heaven.

Another reason I want to move to Oz...